A New Beginning
by Yue-to-Sakura
Summary: They started as a child and a broken man; became like an older brother and a younger sister; transformed into a lady and her servant... And then, in a new beginning before the imminent battle against the Baskervilles... they turn to what?


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pandora Hearts nor any of its characters!

* * *

**A New Beginning**

**A Sharon X Break One Shot**

* * *

Betrayal.

Ah…. How bitter it tasted. How painful it was to hear. How blinding it was to see. How harrowing and killing it was to know… It was exactly like what Sharon Rainsworth has read in many of her romance novels.

Tears rimmed Sharon's eyes and she turned her eyes away from the screen that showed HER Xerx-nii's interactions with a pretty, pink-haired, big breasted Baskerville named Charlotte, or Lottie for short. Why? Why did her Xerx-nii offer a sweet and an alliance, A FRIENDSHIP, to a Baskerville?! What was up with her Xerx-nii fighting alongside with that Baskerville? What were the meanings behind her Xerx-nii's words to the Baskerville? Why? What?

"Sha- Sharon-sama… Are you-" Reim was cut off by a smile smudged with tears.

"… I'm fine Reim. Thank you for showing me this…. Now if you'll excuse me… I… have some matters to attend to," the young Rainsworth said in a broken, barely audible voice. Without waiting for another word from the aforementioned Pandora agent, Sharon went out of the room and into the hallway.

Years of training to keep the "Rainsworth façade" were thrown out of the window as Sharon dashed to who-knows-where, her eyes stinging with her onslaught of racing tears. Servants in corridors called for her attention, asking, begging,

"Sharon-sama, where are you going?"

"What happened Oujo-sama?"

"Oujo-sama!"

"Sharon-sama, why are you crying?"

She paid no heed to them though. In fact, she couldn't hear them. She couldn't see them. She didn't even notice them. Her mind's eye was blinded by the images of her Xerx-nii and that Baskerville. Her ears were ringing with the words her Xerx-nii and that Baskerville exchanged. Her attention was directed only in her thoughts, the indescribable ache her heart was feeling, and how much she wanted to get away from the said things.

"Eques!" she called out her chain in a frenzied command. Shadows danced around her, and out came her Chain, galloping around her for a while or two before taking her on its back in a fluid swoop, understanding its mistress' plight.

Sharon leaned on her Chain, clung to its dark, fiery mane, and requested in a whisper, "Eques… Take me away.."

And the Chain did what it was told. A gateway opened, and with a flourish, Eques entered it, vanishing along with her mistress from the face of the Rainsworth mansion on that night…..

* * *

The moment Break was back in the Rainsworth mansion from a mission, even without his sight, noticed many things amiss. The servants' voices talked in panic. Shuffle of nervous feet echoed throughout the place. More importantly and the very first thing he noticed, his Oujo-sama's presence was nowhere. Worry was coursing through his very being, faster than his own blood.

What happened to Sharon?

Was she kidnapped?

Was she injured?

She couldn't be dead… He could still feel traces of her through his Chain's power.

Break was about to begin his own search for HIS Oujo-sama, when a whack across the head stopped him in his tracks as an oh-so-familiar voice reached his ears.

"Xerxes you idiot!" Reim's voice yelled from somewhere to the left behind him.

Break faced where he assumed Reim was and asked in a serious voice, "Where's Sharon?"

A second passed. And then another. And then another. Yet he received no reply from his bespectacled friend.

"Reim, where's Sharon?" Break repeated, but in a voice laced with promise of pain this time.

"I don't know. We don't know," Reim finally replied, "Sharon-sama just…. Left.."

Break's remaining, sightless crimson eye widened fractionally. What was that again?

"Sharon… left?" he questioned.

"Yes," came the answer.

"Why?" Break queried.

"I… She learned about that Lottie girl… and you.." Reim answered and then backed away from the Mad Hatter's contractor. Anger and the intent to kill was practically dripping off from the rigid white-haired man in front of him, rattling his nerves.

"How?" Break asked in a clipped voice.

Reim gulped. This was the moment he had been dreading to come just after Sharon-sama left. It was his fault after all, and of course, Reim valued his life. He was certain that once he told Break the truth, he might be killed by the crimson-eyed man.

"Reim," Break took a threatening step forward. Reim stepped backward. There was no escaping this.

"She learned it from me… I have acquired intelligence about your interaction with the Baskerville and thinking that Sharon-sama knows you best, she must know something about it… So I asked her about it…. She didn't know. She insisted on seeing the video… And then.. she left, crying.. Later on, I heard from the servants that Sharon-sama called on Eques and vanished," Reim explained in the calmest, steadiest voice he could conjure.

"I'm sorry," the bespectacled man then added without a pause for breath.

Break closed his eye and mustered all control not to lash out. That meddling Reim…. How badly he wanted to beat the life out of the four-eyed uptight guy at the moment. However, Reim didn't mean divulging such information. He only had Break's best interests at hand. It could've been worse if it were other Pandora members who found out. Then again, Sharon disappearing was the worst, and the worry and protectiveness for her was killing him.

Break took a deep breath and stated, "I see."

Without another word, the white-haired man went out of the mansion in a flurry, leaving a frightened Reim to collapse on his knees. The bespectacled Pandora agent heaved out a relieved sigh that his life was spared and then breathed out,

"I hope you find Sharon-sama, Xerxes..."

* * *

How ironic. A bitter chuckle escaped Sharon's trembling lips as she took in the place Eques brought her to. The room was dimly lit. To her left and right were dungeon-like walls. Behind her was a dark, ascending staircase. In front of her, a golden gate towards the unknown and mysteries of the Abyss stood, looming and proud. In a nutshell, it was where she and he first met… Or more accurately, where she found him, bloodied and teetering on the line between life and death.

Sharon fell to her knees, the tears that have stopped a while ago during her travel with Eques coming back full force. Her Chain knew her all too well. Much too well. Where else would she have wanted to be taken away to? Certainly not to Oz-sama, Gil and Alice. She'd never want them to see such a pathetic face coming from her. Her Xerx-nii's side? No… not at the moment…. It would be too much for her.

Choked sobs broke free from Sharon's lips, bouncing off the walls of the gloomy room where the Rainsworth dukedom's gate to the Abyss was. Her hands flew up to her chest, clenching the cloth over her chest where her heart constricted and hammered and slowly killing itself.

Love.

Indeed, how bittersweet it was. Memories danced in Sharon's mind; what once brought her joy and cheer and smiles only bringing about more suffering for her. But alas… Even in such a state, she couldn't even bring herself to wish that those events in the past to have never happened. And alas... she couldn't help herself from still thanking that at least, she met him and have had him by her side for so long. To have him as her brother… To have him as her protector… But….. her heart clenched more than possible, squeezing the life out of her… All those times have led her to never being something more than her Xerx-nii's little sister, or perhaps daughter, and never becoming the beloved princess with him as her loyal knight.

A warm breath fanning her face momentarily brought Sharon out of her thoughts. Eques stood in front of her, her Chain's head slightly bowed to be level with hers and its eyes giving her a look that resembled that of comfort. A small, hollow smile etched itself on Sharon's crying face as she gave her Chain a small pat and then whispered,

"Thank you Eques… You've done enough… You can go now…."

Black tinted with violet emerged from where Eques stood, whipping around the room and merging with the shadows. A portal opened and with one last look at her, her Chain bowed its head and entered it with a gallop. A gust of wind followed as the portal closed itself, thus blowing out some of the candles that lit the room and increasing the pitch-blackness all around Sharon. Left alone, the young Rainsworth let her emotions out as she crumpled in a heap on the cold, hard floor like a doll thrown carelessly away by its owner.

Seconds passed by like days. Minutes passed by like years. Sharon's only company was the shadows of the night and her own reverberating cries until…..

"Oujo-sama…." a voice laced with worry and weariness called out in between labored pants from behind her. Sharon flinched, but she did not turn. She couldn't face him. Not now. Not now when she's reverted back to being such a crybaby…. She'd become even more of a child, or worst, a baby, in his eyes… or rather, eye. All she did was continuing her weeping.

Break stilled. Certainly, he did not expect this. When he had offered that "friendship" with that Baskerville, he had already thought of the many ways his Oujo-sama would react. He had expected a mouthful. He had prepared himself for a killer barrage of her harisen. He had readied himself for days and weeks of being treated as nothing but air… But this? He certainly did not think of this case scenario. He was never good with crying children… What more of emotional women? More so was the fact that to him, Sharon was unlike any other women or everyone else at that.

No matter. For her, Break would try his very best and do what he can. That was quite a task though, since he had as much knowledge on his Oujo-sama's current plight as a new born baby has on the truth about the tragedy of Sablier, the real nature of the Abyss, of the Chains and the likes. What should he do?

Break took a step forward, almost losing his footing for the tiniest of a second. His body was exhausted. He had just come back from a Pandora mission and upon learning of his Ojou-sama's leaving from Reim, had rushed out of the Rainsworth mansion and straight to the stables, grabbed a horse, and with a sightless eye, rode in the night towards the main Rainsworth mansion basing from the gut feeling that he would find his Ojou-sama there. Therefore, his body had just toiled quite a lot at the strain of using his Chain's power to be able to come this far. Only his worry, willpower, and the whirlwind of thoughts raging in his brain were keeping him conscious at the moment.

"Oujo-sama... What's wrong?" he asked.

Sharon cringed at the title. Oujo-sama. Oujo-sama…. Was that all she was to him? Why wouldn't he call her by her given name? He did it once after the incident in Yura's mansion right? So, why can't he continue calling her with just "Sharon"?

"Is that all I am Xerx-nii?" she questioned in a low voice without turning around to face him , "Your… O-oujo-sama? The one y-y-yo-you swo-swore t-t-t-to protect….?"

Break was effectively rendered speechless. He had the answer to that question, but he couldn't tell her.. He couldn't… He didn't want to cause even more pain to her… He was bound by his word… He had to protect her. He wanted to protect her from everything… even from himself…..

Sharon took her Xerx-nii's silence as a yes, increasing the ache in her heart. She turned to face him this time. With tear-brimmed, pale pink orbs, she looked at him sadly in the dark. With trembling lips, she told him,

"I'm right aren't I? I- I'm just that… your Oujo-sama… Just a child… I could never be more to you, couldn't I, Break?"

Break winced at the sudden change of tone from Sharon and at the change from her calling him with the nickname he secretly loved so much, "Xerx-nii" into just "Break". Break opened his mouth to say something, anything.. but the crying young woman in front of him beat him to it.

"Break.. Do you know why I stopped calling you 'Xerx-nii'?" Sharon asked out of the blue and without waiting for a reply from the said man, she stood up with wobbly legs and stumbled towards him to grab his right sleeve. Her legs gave out on her the minute her fingers wrapped around the cloth of his Pandora uniform though and she fell to her knees in front of him, head bowed in resignation.

"I.. I wanted you to see that I've grown…. That I'm not just a little girl anymore… Not a child…. I wanted you to acknowledge me as an equal…. But it seems.. I could never be more to you can't I, Xerx-nii?... And you know what..? I… I've always liked Xerx-nii when I was little… Even if you act goofy…. Even if you act like a clown… Even if you keep ditching your paperwork to Reim-san… I've always.. always admired you…

And before I knew it…. I've started noticing every little thing about Xerx-nii… How long your eyelashes and how I've always wondered what it'd be like to touch them….. How peaceful and heart-warming it is to see your sleeping face…. How you keep calm at most situations… Your strength… The subtle changes on your grinning face that would betray what are in your thoughts…. But no matter how much I notice things… Xerx-nii was almost always like a mystery to me…. And even if I'm by your side…. I couldn't help but feel that you're miles away from me….

But even so… I've always found myself striving harder and harder to be stronger just to be by Xerx-nii's side…. I've always found myself trying to understand you more and more…. I've always found myself wanting Xerx-nii to acknowledge me.. to look at me…. And during those times… I kept asking myself… Why do I feel and act that way?"

Sharon's voice caught in a choked sob but she continued on,

"A-and.. the answer hit me on the face… I love Xerx-nii… I love you Xerx-nii… and that was why…. I.. I've always wanted to be of use to you….. I-I-If… If… If I was as pretty as that Baskerville… If I was as strong as that Baskerville… If I was like that Baskerville you asked to become your friend Xerx-nii…" Sharon locked gazes with her Xerx-nii's single crimson eye and asked in the most dejected voice,

"..Then would I have been of more use to you? Would you have looked at me more? Would you have noticed me and my feelings more?"

Break ground his teeth and responded," Don't… Stop it Sharon.."

"Stop wha—"

Sharon's words died down her throat as she felt arms encircle her body and draw her close to a sturdy, warm chest, and her Xerx-nii leaning his head on her shoulder.

"Don't ever be like anyone else…" Break whispered into her left ear as one of his hands wove their way into her brown locks, "Don't ever say that you'd be like that Baskerville…."

Break then held her at an arm's length away with one hand still around her waist whilst the hand that was tangled in her hair caressed its way to cup her face. His face softened to the gentlest expression Sharon has ever seen from him as he wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"I wouldn't love you if you were anyone else Sharon…." he said in a very soft voice.

**Ba-dump.**

Sharon's heart skipped a beat. Did she just hear that right?

"Xerx-nii -" She was once again cut off by Break, who this time placed his index fingers on top of her lips in a gesture of "Stay quiet."

"Shhh…." Break muttered in a husky voice, "I'm not done yet Sharon.."

The way he said her name and the hypnotic gaze his sightless red eye held was enough to shut Sharon's mouth and more than enough to make her heart stop beating.

"That Baskerville… Lottie… She's nothing but someone to use in order to gain what I want….. She's nothing compared to you Sharon….. She's just a pawn…. A disposable one…. And you… You'd never be of use to me Sharon…."

An arrow seemed to pierce Sharon's heart at Break's words…. She couldn't be of use to him? Why?

"Wh- Why can't I?" she questioned, a tear threatening to fall.

Before it could though, Break wiped it away. He flashed a genuine, gentle smile at her and replied,

"If this was any normal situation.. I would have told only half the truth and answer that it's because you're the 'oujo-sama' and I being the 'servant' should be the one who must be useful to you and not the other way around….But this is no ordinary predicament…., "Break replied, paused, and then kissed her right cheek before continuing,

"I don't want to use the one I love and cherish the most for my own selfish desires."

"Xerx-nii…" Sharon breathed out, a blush coloring her cheeks, "I- "

"However," Break interrupted her yet again, "I AM just a servant and you're of high rank Sharon…. I don't want to tarnish your name…. Not only that, I swore to your grandmother that I'll protect you…. Even from myself…. Which was why I had to treat you like a child…. It was fairly easy at first… You were like a daughter and a sister to me before…. But, it became harder every passing day as you gradually grew into the woman you are now.."

Break lovingly brushed his Sharon's cheek with the back of his right hand, leaned his forehead against hers and continued in his sing-song voice,

"But then, it seems that I've only seen how much of a woman you truly have grown into just when my eye lost its sight….. And from what I know of the woman you are now… you wouldn't give up won't you?"

Sharon smiled at him through half-lidded eyes, cupped his face and replied, "Yes…. I'll love you on and on Xerx-nii no matter what they'll say... I don't care. I won't listen to them.. What do they know?"

Break didn't answer. Instead, his eyes were closed and he was leaning in... All blood rushed on Sharon's cheeks, but nonetheless, she swallowed up her nervousness and closed her eyes. She could already feel her Xerx-nii's warm breath hovering over her lips. It was starting to get nearer… nearer… nearer… just a little more…

**THUD. **

Sharon's eyes flew open and widened like saucers when it wasn't the gentle pressure of his lips she anticipated that came over her. Instead, his whole weight pressed on her, causing her, and him, to fall into a lying position with him on top of her. A mad flush introduced itself into her face.

"Xe- Xe- Xerx-nii?" Sharon stammered.

A minute passed. And then another. Yet, she got nothing in reply but the sound of his even breathing. Her heart panged with guilt. Her Xerx-nii just got back from a mission… He must surely be tired.. Still, he came for her… He searched for her….. Sharon's free hand ran itself through Break's silver hair, relishing in its softness.

"I love you Xerxes…" Sharon then whispered to his ear and let her eyes close. For the trouble she just put him through and for exhausting him, she'll endure his weight over her for the rest of the night….

* * *

Sharon woke up to the sound of an all too familiar sing-song voice from above her that said.

"Aah~~ I didn't know you were such a pervert Sharon!"

Sharon's eyes flew open and all too immediately, all blood rushed to her face as she realized the position she and her Xerxes was in…. It wasn't entirely a perverted position or anything of the sorts…. It wasn't proper either though… She was lying on the floor with one arm draped over her Xerxes' shoulder and the other at the back of his head, pressing his face over her chest…. Over her chest…..

"Break you idiot!" she yelled as the arm over her Xerxes' shoulder removed itself and found its way into the fold of her dress…

And then the inevitable happened.

Out came Sharon's harisen. With one masterful flick of the wrist, the harisen struck Break and without effort, sent him flying a good deal of meters away from Sharon.

Break winced at the all-too-familiar pain and then chuckled. Perhaps he shouldn't have woken her up…. But it was too fun to resist teasing his Sharon… He stood up from the cold floor and made his way to his fuming lady…. Her cheeks were ablaze, much to his amusement and liking. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously at him, her harisen at the ready for another blow…

Break's trademark smirk appeared on his face. Sharon readied herself for another tease from him… Her mind came up of retorts in a matter of seconds. Her hand gripped her harisen harder….. He was coming….

**Step. Step. Step.**

He was towering over her now…. Sharon gulped. What was he going to do? As if reading her thought, his smirk grew wider and he kneeled down. His red eye twinkled with something…. He brought up a hand and at the same time his lips parted…

Everything went into slow motion for Sharon….

Break's hand came in contact with her cheek…

Her harisen re-introduced itself on Break's unprotected head.

Break, unaffected, pulled her face towards his.

Sharon winced and closed her eyes in surprise….

"I love you Sharon," she heard his silky voice say…..

I love you….

I love you…

I love you….

Sharon's eyes opened…

Her lips parted…

But before words could come out, the unfinished act last night was finally brought to a close…

His soft, warm lips pressed gently and unsurely against hers…. Thousand jolts of electricity coursed through her body from where his lips touched hers….. She didn't see any fireworks, unlike what she had read in her romance novels. All she could see was her Xerxes. She wasn't hearing the angels sing… All she could hear was his heart and hers beating together as one….

Sharon's eyelids drooped to a close… Finally, after years of reading and dreaming… her first kiss finally came… Moving solely by instinct and by what she has read from her books, Sharon kissed back as she wrapped her arms around her Xerxes' neck.

Break smiled against the kiss. Admittedly, this was his first time ever kissing anyone. Yes, the great "Mr. One-Man-Show" Xerxes Break has never kissed a girl until this moment. Back when he was Kevin Legnard, his only concern was protecting his charge, his master. He could care less about love and women…. When he first became Xerxes Break, he was a man who lived only for himself….. Love and women were not worth his time. He had a goal to achieve, a Will of the Abyss to destroy… Until that day when his Oujo-sama became something more to him….

Break sat down on the floor, pulling his Oujo-sama to sit on his lap. He tilted his face a bit, deepening the kiss. His Sharon's lips tasted sweeter than any sweets he had ever eaten and needless to say, he was getting addicted to it.

Break parted his lips…. And just when he was about to make things hot, using his knowledge from the books he had read to Sharon, a certain noise reached his sharp hearing. Break broke the kiss and stood up, a sightless eye darting around the room. Sharon followed suit, and being the one with sight, almost fainted the moment she saw where the noise came from.

There, on the steps of the staircase, stood a frozen group of four people. Gilbert's almond-shaped eyes were wider than plates, his mouth hang open, and his face was beet while his hands were suspended mid-air as if they were supposed to cover someone's eyes from seeing something. A few centimeters below Gilbert's hands was Oz, a comical pained look on his face with his mouth dangling all the way to the ground, one hand over his heart and the other holding a wilted rose. Meanwhile, Alice was beside Oz, eyes wide with lips parted midway from biting a piece of meat on her hand that was frozen in the air and the other pointing an accusing finger at Break while her hair stood up like that of a cat. In front of the others stood Reim, wearing a look the most different from others. His arms were up in the air as if rejoicing with one of his feet raised as if he was just skipping from joy. However, his poise was rigid and his face was similar to that of a thief caught in the middle of stealing due to the look Break was giving him.

"Reim…" Break hissed, a dangerous aura pouring out from him.

As if on cue, the four people on the staircase unfroze.

"What the hell?! That clown just stole Sharon-niisama's first kiss! Unforgivable!" Alice hollered.

"Noooo! Sharon-chan's first kiss was taken by the clown of all people! Sharon-chan's innocence and purity and-" Oz went on a rant about how he couldn't take Sharon as his wife anymore and the likes with tearful eyes.

"That idiot Break… Sharon… They… Kissed.. That idiot Break and Sharon.. That idiot Break and Sharon.." Gilbert's tongue was taken by a cat.

"I- I'm sorry Xerx! W-W-We-we're le-lea-leaving n-n-now! We didn't me-mea-mean to i-intrude!" Reim blurted out, stumbling with words.

With that, he immediately dragged the others somewhere far away, leaving behind Sharon and Break to themselves again. The lady and his knight looked at each other. A giggle escaped Sharon's lips. A laugh made its way out of Break's lips… And soon enough, the two were laughing whole-heartedly at the reaction of their friends.

Once the laughter died down, Break kneeled in front of Sharon, said an "I love you" with all his heart and soul, took his lady's right hand, kissed the fingertips and then did the same with the other. When he finished doing so, he looked up at Sharon, tucked a stray strand of hair to the back of her ear, smiled wistfully and added,

"But my time is short Sharon… No matter how much I want to be by your side and shoo away all other men, I'm afraid my body's dying inside…"

Sharon took his hand in hers and gave him a hopeful smile, "We'll find a way Xerx-nii… We'll find a way"

Break's smile turned optimistic and he responded, "Nothing can stop you once you've set your mind unto it, ne Ojou-sama?"

Sharon's smile widened at the endearment laced with the title.

"The same is true with you," she retorted.

The two continued to beam at each other for a little while longer, letting themselves be drowned in the depths of the eyes of the other. A battle to death against the Baskervilles was imminent.. But somehow, Sharon believed that they'll be able to come out of it alive. All of them.

"Let's go Xerx-nii?" Sharon asked.

_Let's go and face the future together._

Break kissed her lips for a brief while and replied, "Yes, let's."

Hand in hand, Sharon Rainsworth and Xerxes Break stepped out of the dark place where they first met as a child and a broken man, and into the light outside, as a man and woman in love.

* * *

_Whoop! That was long! Ehehe… This my very first attempt at writing a Sharon X Break and a Pandora Hearts fic for that matter! I hope you enjoyed reading and thank you very much for taking the time to do so! :)))_

_On another note, I am so, so, so anti-LottieXBreak. I truly intended for this fic to just be a whole anti-LottieXBreak thing… but it seems the story went away from my original intentions…. XPP_

_Anywho, is it okay if I ask of you to please review? I'd certainly love hearing your comments and know where I can improve :D _


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